Jackson Mayor Derek Dobies and the City Council moved to put two options for city residents on the November ballot to ‘fix the damn roads’.
First, a smaller millage with special assessments. Second, something Mayor Dobies and the council heard echoed through public meetings was an option some residents wanted, although the cost is a bit higher. “Through those meetings we also heard that people would rather have the option that all of the revenue and expenditures for roads would be through a single-source millage rate instead of having a millage and assessments,” Dobies said. “That’s something Councilman (Jeromy) Alexander with my support we put forth as an option as well. That proposal is 13.5 mills over 20 years, then it drops after that to 3.5 mills to provide for long-term maintenance and care. That is steep; with all of that being millage-driven.”
The theory that many residents claim is that the city has money laying about. “I’ve been on council for about 6, 7 years now and I have yet to find the secret pot of gold hiding in City Hall.” Dobies said. The city has about $6 million in funds set aside since a long-term plan to shore up the city’s finances was enacted. For reference, $6 million would only remove and replace about 6-10 miles of road. The city has just over 100 miles of road in total. “When I first got to City Hall in 2012, the previous Mayor (Karen Dunigan) was actually calling for an Emergency Financial Manager because our finances were so bad. That’s one of the big priorities that we set out to solve over the last five years. We’re in a much better financial place in terms of our own fiscal house and some of the financially responsible decisions we’ve been making. Particularly, with some of our long-term liabilities and our pension plans.”
